UFC on FOX 5's tough guy Matt Brown a bit softer after fatherhood

Following his turn on “The Ultimate Fighter 7,” UFC welterweight Matt Brown did as many show veterans do and moved away from his hometown.

Splitting his time between Seattle and Las Vegas, where trainers Matt Hume and Mark Beecher resided, respectively, he found the type of world-class training needed to compete in the UFC.

Now 31 years old, Brown lives close to where he grew up in Ohio and still travels to camp. But when he does, something tugs at him to make the process just a little harder.

Brown’s girlfriend, Colleen, gave birth to twin boys, Hunter and Connor, in October 2010, and the novelty of freedom wears off quickly.

“The first couple of days, it’s cool because you’re like, ‘Man, I finally get some sleep,'” Brown told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “I’m not hearing screaming all day, and I can come home and relax and not have kids smacking you in the face.

“But after a couple of days, you start missing that. You’re bored. You’re like, ‘Where are my kids to smack me in the face?'”

Brown is the archetypal tough guy in MMA. He always wants to get into a fistfight inside the octagon and says fighting to control his opponents is against his moral code. But he is now a believer in the theory that kids make you soft.

“It’s actually been proven in studies that your testosterone drops once you have kids,” he said. “You basically become more womanly and more nurturing and whatnot. I’m more womanly than I was before, which is not very womanly.”

Training camp again led Brown (15-11 MMA, 8-5 UFC) to Las Vegas in preparation for his next fight, which comes on Saturday against Mike Swick (15-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) at UFC on FOX 5. The pair meets in the first bout of the event’s FOX-televised main card, which follows prelims on FX and Facebook.

Their position on the card is no accident. At UFC on FOX 4, Swick delivered a blistering second-round knockout of DaMarques Johnson while Brown knocked out Luis Ramos at UFC on FX 4. Hardcore fans expect an action-packed fight when they meet.

In 13 UFC appearances, Brown has gone to the scorecards only twice. If kids have changed him, it’s not showing inside the cage.

Outside might be a different story; he’s considering buying a cruising motorcycle after years of gunning sport bikes into three-digit territory. (Once, he got two speeding tickets in the same day.)

Don’t expect Brown to quit his day job, though. He still loves to compete inside the octagon. Kids, as it turns out, have encouraged him to be a better fighter.

It wasn’t always that way. The thought of making a living filled with so much uncertainty weighed him down in fights.

“Now, I’ve come full circle, and I’ve realized I’m going to feed my kids no matter what,” he said. “Whether I win this fight or lose this fight, whether I never win another fight, I’m going to take care of my kids.

“So I don’t put that pressure on myself any more. Rather I use them being in my life as an inspiration, I want to inspire them to do great things. It’s not like I have to do it for them, but I want to so I can teach them work ethic and show them the great things you can do and all the cliched words.”

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

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